A man dared tell Evan Rachel Wood that she can’t act – and her response was perfect

When a Westworld fan questioned Evan Rachel Wood’s abilities, the actress knew exactly what to do…

We have been fans of Evan Rachel Wood, one of Westworld’s standout stars, for a very long time now. And not just because she’s a talented actress, musician and model: in 2011, she came out as bisexual and has been an avid advocate for LGBTQ rights. She has spoken out about the gender pay gap. She has acknowledged that she was sexually assaulted and speaks out in support of sexual assault survivors. She is open about her struggles with mental illness. And she point-blank refuses to let anyone belittle her in any way.

So, when a Twitter troll crawled out from underneath his bridge to question her acting abilities, Wood made a point of clapping back in a very big way.

For those who haven’t seen Westworld yet, Wood plays Dolores Abernathy, an artificial being who discovers that her entire life, which has been lived in a Wild West-themed amusement park, is a constructed lie.

Despite being (on paper) a ‘robot’, though, Dolores is an incredibly complex and multifaceted character: she has experienced trauma, and abuse, and grief, and pain – and, over time, she has grown into a fiercely resilient, fully conscious being.

Yet, despite all of this, one troll felt the need to ask: “Why is Dolores still the only ‘robot’ on #Westworld without a personality?”

He added: “Oh. I know why. It’s because @evanrachelwood can’t actually act anything but two emotions.”

The troll later stated, as if it were relevant in any way, that he doesn’t “have an opinion about her looks” – and that he only shared his critique of Wood’s acting in a bid to help her “do better”.

Right.

It wasn’t all that long before Wood had responded with a series of (now-deleted, but obtained by BuzzFeed) tweets.

“Hmm,” she wrote. “Maybe you should put on the corset in 113 degree weather, spend time away from your family, risk your life on horse-back, cry at the drop of a hat and relive your traumas over and over and over, be dragged and beaten until all hours of the night, sacrifice your childhood to work and take acting classes five times a week, and work your entire life fighting through criticism and sexism to make it on this show, THEN show me how it’s done.

“Oh, and while you’re at it, take off all your clothes and sit here for 6 hours in perfect posture too.”

Wood ended by sharing a video of her character riding a horse, adding: “So I am just gonna keep doing what I’m doing because it’s working out pretty good for me and I thoroughly enjoy it.

“Byyyyyeeeeeeee!”

Image: HBO

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Kayleigh Dray

Kayleigh Dray is editor of Stylist.co.uk, where she chases after rogue apostrophes and specialises in films, comic books, feminism and television. On a weekend, you can usually find her drinking copious amounts of tea and playing boardgames with her friends.